Four Italians qualified in the top seven with Andrea Iannone fourth for Suzuki, Danilo Petrucci fifth on a Pramac Ducati and Lorenzo’s team mate Andrea Dovizioso, last year’s winner at Mugello, seventh.

Valentino Rossi steers his Yamaha through qualifying.Source:AP

Rossi’s pole, his first since Japan in October 2016, came at the end of a session that saw the track record repeatedly broken.

The Italian, who can become the first rider to score 5,000 career points in MotoGP on Sunday with a current tally of 4,989, won at Mugello for seven years in a row between 2002 and 2008.